As anyone who’s visited a Barnes & Noble lately knows, one of the major publishing trends is adult coloring books. As the Washington Post reported earlier this year, sales of colored pencils rose 26.3% in 2015, and that’s not the only indicator of the trend. Late last year Walmart added a four-foot section for adult coloring books in several hundred of its branches, and Target added the books to its offerings around the same time.

Anticipating the trend, in 2009 the Yellow Bird Project, a Canadian charity project specializing in band T-shirts, unveiled The Indie Rock Coloring Book geared for fans of the Shins, the National, MGMT, and many other indie rock acts. The purpose of the Yellow Bird Project is to support Trekstock, a charity in Great Britain that seeks to raise funds for young adults with cancer.

Pierre de Reeder of Rilo Kiley penned the foreword. Matt Berninger of the National provided the following blurb: “This is the greatest coloring book since coloring was invented. I’ve decided to have kids just so I’ll have somebody to give this book to.”

Here are a few examples from the book, which is still available at Yellow Bird and also at Amazon.
 

MGMT
 

Bon Iver
 

The Shins
 

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
 

The National
 

Andrew Bird
 

Joseph Arthur
 

Elvis Perkins
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Witty and macabre Addams Family coloring book from 1965
Color me impressed: Lemmy and David Bowie-themed coloring books are here!